Today in News History

On July 12, several notable moments in the history of News stand out. In 911, Signing of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple and Rollo of Normandy. In 937, Rudolph II of Burgundy (born 880) passed away. In 1760, Peggy Shippen, American wife of Benedict Arnold and American Revolutionary War spy (died 1804) was born. In 1906, Murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette in the United States, inspiration for Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy. In 1916, Alexander Prokhorov, Australian-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2002) was born. In 1921, A truce in the Irish War of Independence comes into effect. In 1977, Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated in 1968, is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1978, Los Alfaques disaster: A truck carrying liquid gas crashes and explodes at a coastal campsite in Tarragona, Spain killing 216 tourists. In 2014, John Seigenthaler, American journalist and academic (born 1927) passed away. In 2024, Shelley Duvall, American actress (born 1949) passed away. Together, these milestones provide historical context for today's news news and ongoing narratives.